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Leinster thump Treviso

Leinster smashed Treviso 62-7 in the Dublin sunshine to bag a bonus point and retain their spot atop the PRO12 leaderboard.

Leinster smashed Treviso 62-7 in the Dublin sunshine on Friday to bag a bonus point and retain their spot atop the PRO12 leaderboard.

The Irish province dominated the first period and opened up a 29-0 advantage through Jordi Murphy, Sean Cronin, Cian Healy and Zane Kirchner tries. Treviso gave themselves a glimmer of hope before the break when they were awarded a penalty try, but it was the Dublin-based outfit that extended their lead after the interval through Dominic Ryan, Noel Reid (twice), Jamie Heaslip and Luke McGrath scores to secure a comfortable win.

Matt O'Connor's men have enjoyed an excellent season in the PRO12 and were looking to enhance their home semi-final prospects. They got off to an ideal start when Jimmy Gopperth kicked them in front before excellent work from locks Devon Toner and Mike McCarthy ended in Murphy going over.

The hosts were rampant and a botched lineout by the visitors saw Cronin latch onto the loose ball and scamper across the whitewash unopposed. Matters soon went from bad to worse for the away side when Christian Loamanu was stretchered off with a serious-looking injury and they went 22-0 down in as many minutes.

British and Irish Lions prop Healy showed excellent footwork and power to go in under the posts from close range, and it was all too easy for Leinster.

Kirchner touched down following excellent work from Gopperth before Treviso finally got themselves on the board through a penalty try, with Isaac Boss being yellow carded in the process for taking down the maul. It at least gave the scoreline a more respectable look at the break and, with Boss in the bin, a chance for the visitors to make further inroads into the opposition lead.

However, they failed to take advantage and it was the hosts that crossed next through Ryan. Reid then scampered over, by latching onto McGrath's break and pass, and Heaslip touched down to extend their lead to 48-7. The replacement scrum-half, McGrath, went over for a deserved try after an impressive cameo before Reid completed the rout following another impressive move.